China Travel Tips

•Be aware of your own limitations – acrophobia, heart problems, and diabetes may be cause enough to stay home.
•It is very important to have health and accident insurance before taking any Great Wall hiking tour. Be sure to carry insurance information, and emergency contact information with you, on any hike.
•Be sure to have a good breakfast at least an hour before starting a strenuous hike.
•It is extremly hot to walk on the Wall under the sun. Be sure to bring along, and to drink, enough water to
... view more keep yourself from becoming dehydrated.
•You may consider bringing a first-aid kit in your day pack, in case of emergencies, better safe than sorry!!
•Walk slowly during the first hours to condition your body to trekking. Never run or walk fast.
•Because many parts of the Wall are broken and loose, sensible footwear is essential.
•Be aware of the danger: in many places, especially on mountain tops, the wall is broken and loose; many parts are not only difficult and strenuous but also dangerous! Be very careful!
•Keep a safe distance from the person in front of you while walking up any steep broken wall to avoid being hit by falling stones.
•Keep a safe distance from the edge of the wall, or any opening or break in the wall; these areas are the first to become loose or broken, and therefore may not be safe. Be sure to obey any warning signs that are posted.
•If you need to use a rope bridge, don't run, jump, shake, or push.
•Don't lean against the wall to rest without first verifying that it is still secure, and that its stones have not become loosened.
•Preserve the Wall – think green! Leave nothing except your footprints, take nothing except photographs and garbage.
•In summer, rain showers and/or thunderstorms are quite common while hiking on the Wall. Be sure to power-off your mobile phone in any bad weather - using a cell phone in an electrical storm can be fatal
•Don’t wander off on your own – stay with the group.

8 places you can not miss in Beijing

Submitted by M21347

8 places you can not miss in Beijing: 1. Forbidden City, as the largest and best preserved imperial palace in China, you will definitely be impressed. 2. The Great wall, as a Chinese saying goes, people who come China and never go to the Great wall are not real men. When you stand on the wall, it is hard to image how the ancient Chinese people built it during that backward society. 3. Summer palace, it is the largest imperial garden in Beijing. Big lake and big mountain, it is made artificially. 4. Temple of
... view more heaven, the biggest imperial worship area, the Eco wall, the heavenly heart stone, you will know how much people believed in God during those times. 5. Hutong, only here can you can see old Beijing, know what local people live like. 6. Acrobatic show, the Peking opera show at night, it is very good area to visit at night, it is special feeling about Chinese culture. 7. Wangfujing, night food market. People eat all the wearied food, Scorpio ,cricket, Snake, crab. 8. Sanlitun bar street. If you like bars, it is a good place, there are all bars around the street.

The most popular shopping streets in Beijing

Submitted by M21347

The most popular shopping streets in Beijing: 1. Wangfujing, the oldest street in Beijing, close to the Forbidden city, you can find Chinese and western goods here, it is a walking street. 2. Qianmen, located on the south of the Tiananmen square, it is a combination of modern and tradition. You can also find the traditional bus there, take your mind back to 50 years ago. 3. Silk street, you can find all kinds of world brands, such as Gucci, Armani, Herman's, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, but they are all copy, bargain
... view more is very important if you are here. 4. Pearl market, it is similar to the silk street. You can also find many pearls here.

The city flower of Shanghai is white magnolia, which blossoms extraordinarily early. When winter waned and spring comes, the white magnolia has already in full bloom before Qingming Festival, i.e. Tomb-visiting Day. The white magnolia has big flowers spotlessly white and blooming upwards, symbolizing a kind of the spirit rising in great vigor. Therefore, white magnolia has embedded in the mind of Shanghai people as a beautiful icon.

Shikumen, literally "stone gate", is an architectural style for residential buildings in Shanghai, China combining Western and Chinese elements that first appeared in the 1860s.

Shikumen houses are two or three-story townhouses, with the front yard protected by a high brick wall. Each residence is connected and arranged in straight alleys, known as a lòng-tang, pronounced longdang in Shanghainese. The entrance to each alley is usually surmounted by a stylistic stone arch. The whole resembles terrace
... view more houses or townhouses commonly seen in Anglo-American countries, but distinguished by the tall, heavy brick wall in front of each house. The literal meaning "stone gate" refers to the strong gateway to each house.

Shanghai snacks could be traced back to as early as the Southern Song Dynasty and became more exquisite in cooking when Shanghai grew into an important city in early Ming Dynasty. After Shanghai was listed as a trading port by the end of the Qing Dynasty, various regional snacks were assimilated, developed and refined, bringing forth the specialty of Shanghai style. A wide selection of locals – baked sesame pan cake, deep-fried dough sticks, soybean milk, sticky rice combo, steamed bun and pan-fried bun – as
... view more well as dozens of kinds of pastry, bun, stuffed dumpling and rice cake. Different from pure sweet taste of Canton-Hong Kong style or hot and spicy flavor of Sichuan-Chongqing type, Shanghai snack is famed for being light, fresh and tasty, and his long been diners’ favorite for its characteristics.

The Waibaidu Bridge, known as "outer free crossing bridge" among locals, while officially called The Garden Bridge in English, is Shanghai’s landmark bridge. It is situated in the Suzhou Creek, near its confluence with the Huangpu River, connecting the famous Broadway Mansion and Astor House Hotel in the north bank of the creek and the Bund origin in the south. The Waibaidu Bridge was built in the beginning of 1908 as a defiant to the Wills’ Bridge built earlier that collected toll for Chinese only
... view more while free-open to foreigners.

In March 2008, The old Waibaidu bridge was temporarily removed during major renovation work of Shanghai's Bund area prior to the World Expo Shanghai 2010, and was restored to the original site after its renovation in March 2009. Oftentimes brides and grooms are found take their wedding photos in the bridge. It also appears in many movie scenes in relation to Shanghai.

Things can and do go wrong when you stay in a hotel. This can be especially trying when travelling abroad as you may not speak the local language. In China you can be pretty sure that there will be an English-speaking member of staff at 4 and 5 star hotels. There may be someone with basic English at a 3 star hotel. Below that standard you will have to rely on a good phrasebook.

At many airports (and sometimes stations) in China it is common for foreigners to be approached by locals offering cheap prices for taxis or, more frequently, a way to avoid the long taxi queues. These touts have no qualms about lying to get you into a car as they will then be paid. Anyone getting into one of these cars will be cheated with little recourse through the authorities. Either join the queue and use an official taxi or book travel services with a reliable company including airport and other arrival transfers as appropriate.

Most people know that the population in China is huge - approximately 1.3 billion. Still, few visitors are fully prepared for the crowds that can be found at many of the most popular tourist sites in China. Given that these detract from the overall experience, the best thing to do is to balance visits to the highlights with some lesser known sites or activities. There are many more of these and with research you could well find some that fit your own special interests.

Brief Introduction on Chinese Visa Policy

Submitted by M20782

Citizens from all foreign countries except Singapore, Brunei and Japan need a visa if traveling to Mainland China, which they should get from the consulates before their trip. And they can only stay in China for no more than 15 days on the purpose of doing business, sightseeing and visiting friends and relatives.

Credit Card Can Be Used in China

Submitted by M20782

Most of the credit cards accepted internationally can be used in China, such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, JCB and Dinner’s Club, which can only be used in large shopping malls, department stores, hotels and restaurants in major cities of China.

Best Souvenirs to Buy in China

Submitted by M20782

Silk, tea, handicrafts, jades, calligraphies, paintings, antiques, Chinese medicine are all good items to buy from China as souvenirs. Since China is a large country, different cities are famous for their distinct souvenirs. For example, Beijing is famous for painted clay sculptures and paper-cutting, Shanghai for model of Oriental Pearl Tower, Xi’an for replicas of Terra-cotta soldiers, Suzhou for tea and Guilin for scroll paintings and China Southern Sea Pearls. In local markets or department stores, you will have more choices.

Once a gambling undertaken covertly, the cricket fighting is now more of recreation with lots of cultural tinge, just like fishing, aviculture and gardening, etc. However, in the wake of the tough measures taken to crack down on gambling in any form.
The life of a cricket lasts for about 100 days normally. The cricket raising and fighting turn gradually slow after October when most crickets are not able to survive anymore. In its prime time, that is the period from July to October, crickets are sold in the street
... view more and especially in those so-called flower-bird markets. Aside from its natural traits, the way a raiser takes care of the cricket does matter a lot as well to make a great fighting cricket. An experienced raiser knows what is good to eat, what a favorable living condition is, how to make proper fighting exercise, how to usher into the fighting form, and even when to let it mate with a female – As a matter of fact, only male crickets flight. Crickets have pedigrees. The best ones are commonly believed to be from Shandong Province. A cricket of a humble breed costs about 1 and 2 US dollars.

Chinese mitten crab (Da Zha Xie) is a hairy crab found in rivers and lakes. Late autumn is the best time for eating crabs in Shanghai. During that time, the best-quality Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs with green shells and white bottoms, rich in fat and ovary, are shipped to restaurants. Among all the dishes, the most popular one is the steamed crab tied with ropes or strings when it is served, which maintains the original flavor of the crab. It focuses on bringing out the natural crab flavor. The meat is tender, juicy
... view more and delicious. Da Zha Xie is usually consumed with vinegar with ginger pieces. Locals are also quite fussy about when to enjoy male crabs and when female crabs.